Flawless
by Ree-Vance
Summary: Which is more important? What's on the inside or what's on the outside?


Flawless

It was long into the future where our story takes place, although not in a land far away, it's residents were. Too far deep in their bonds to care about the outside world as much. If there was joy, they were happy, if there was strife, they would help but a smile would never leave their faces.

Such were the people who lived in the town; always smiling and happy.

But our protagonist is not a resident of this town nor have he/she/it ever really heard of it. He/she/It was chasing after one thing; Fairy Tail. Tales of glory and depression echoed throughout he/she/it's childhood, always learning about the exploits of this guild; yet never seeing a member. He/she/it lived in a big bustling city so, he/she/it figured that a member was going to pop up eventually. Nope. Zadda. Zip. None.

So when our protagonist turned 18 years of human age he/she/it bought a ticket and decided to see the grand guild for her/him/itself.

The train was a rocky one, pulling in slightly after the clock in the center of town rang two o'clock. Our protagonist, whom was a female it turned out, stepped out onto the platform with her blonde hair pulled tightly into a bun and her white skin gleaming at the hurtful UV-rays. Quickly our frail person reached into her bag and pulled out a white and blue tube, un-capping it she lathered the white cream from inside it all over her exposed epidermis. Smiling satisfied, the tube went back into the blue tote bag.

It was just going to be a quick trip, pop in say hello, then back to the capital she would go.

Her footfalls didn't sound very noisy as she expected them to be, for in a town wouldn't the slightest noise be heard from the quietness? Nope, this town was just as loud as the city she came from. Although lacking the smog hanging over the tall buildings and the shady people selling Rolex watches.

In place of such scary men and women were the smiles of chubby women and the bashful waves of young folk. Her heart sunk and leap for joy at the same time. She could feel in her heart that this was a town that everyone knew each other, but that also meant that they knew she wasn't from around here.

She was an outsider.

The blonde girl wrapped her arms around herself as she walked down the paved road which seemed to be the main road. Every street sign was some form of dismantled, destroyed, frozen, bent in several places, or burnt to a stub on the ground. She wondered why this was, but she supposed that she would never quite understand as an outsider. Would this town be as harsh and cruel as the city she came from and lived in all your life? There you found your pack/clan/family/group as soon as you could. That way you were never alone, never an outsider. Outsiders weren't thrashed publicly, but the glares and snides from people walking by you on the over-crowded sidewalks gave a completely translated message of _You don't belong._ It was horrible.

She wore a blue skirt that went to her knees and her shirt was of the fairest white, it may have blended into her skin had she not tried to avoid this awkward fashion disaster. In the city you were judged on your whole being. What color was your hair? How tall were young? Was your nose cute enough? Your butt tight enough? Your breasts plump enough? Are your eyes brown? Do you have long hair? How much money do you make? What kind of clothes do you wear? Are you a virgin? What's your favorite band? What shoe size are you? How much do you weigh? Are you smart? Do you have a house? Are you married? Do you have kids? How about pets, do you have pets? Even something as simple as what your favorite color was changed how people judged you. Everyday was a test, and everyday you would fail.

She tried to look nice, maybe even pretty, but her mother had raised her never meet someone looking like a slob, so her yellow locks were pulled away harshly from her face. She didn't have much hair anyway, it only went to her ears, yet somehow her mother managed to get it into a bun. Magic almost.

Was her hair golden enough? She wondered oddly seeing all the pretty small town girls walk past her with their naturally tan skin and red, black, and brown hair. She had been told it was... cute before; she could not remember anyone telling her that it was beautiful. Not even her mother or the countless boyfriends she had. Everyone who has anyone had a boyfriend. The more you had the cooler you were, but you couldn't have too many or your were a slut. But no one knew what the limit number was.

Suddenly has she passed a shop window and saw her reflection, she became so paranoid of her _cute_ looks.

She had yellow hair, not blonde, but not crayon yellow, somewhere in between. Her skin was so white that she bet that snow was darker than her. It was such a contrast! All the women around her and even in the store had tan skin, not exactly brown- although some women did- but not white either. It was very charming. Her skin was just so, so, so _white!_ Why had no one told her before? Told her how damn _cute_ her skin looked! The girl covered her arms with her arms quickly, feeling very embarrassed to have such a color on her body. Her mouth? What about her mouth? It dipped and peeked like any other mouth, sure, were her lips pouty enough? Maybe they were too thin. Was that their natural color? That pale pink? Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god! How could she walk around like this? Her hands – did they look soft? She thought they did. Maybe they liked rough hands? _Oh no!- _dashed into her tote bag, feeling around for the object of her desire. Surely she had lip gloss; every girl did! Maybe she had lipstick- _oooh! _That would be just perfect! Then she could hide the pale pink frosty color of her thin(?)/plump(?) lips! Her nails – were they too long? How did girls decorate their nails around here? Maybe she should have painted them? _Damn damn damn!_- scraped against a small metal canister. She shrieked of elation before looking around embarrassed to see if anyone saw her and was now planning to kill her.

But no one was, the town folk merely kept walking, chatting with their walking partners or carrying bags to and fro. No one even glanced harshly at her, when they passed they smiled as waved, she timidly smiled back. How odd! Maybe it was a trap! Yes, yes, yes- a trap to make her feel welcomed then to kick her butt and run her out of town. Her mind wailed at the thought of her doom. She had to look pretty, now!

Pulling out the lipstick she noted it was purple, it would have to do, she smeared it lightly onto her lips then smiled. She looked fine now. That pale color gone. She was pretty now. It was okay now.

She once again began her trek and noticed how the number of people increased the more she walked down the road, curiously she looked to see what was further down the road and gasped at what she saw.

It had to have five stories, just had to! It was so large and grand, with many colors running across it like a child had a spazz attack while coloring it. The best part about this strange building that was as fat as a troll in all the childrens' books was that in large lit-up letters it spelled out '_Fairy tail'_.

She made it!

Her sandaled feet ran up towards the building, why sandals? They were one of the newest fads in the city. The doors were huge, taller than any door she had seen before. How did people open these? Were they magical? Maybe you had to know a password to get in. Yes, surely that was it. She stood a bit in front of the door and sucked in a deep breath, before letting out a shout.

"Abra Cadadbra!" She shouted, her voice quite loud from always yelling to speak to someone in a club or to make someone finally realize that it was a green light for heaven's sake! Not that she could drive of course. She waited with her fists clenching, maybe there would be a flash of light and they would be open, or maybe they would creak slowly and very loudly with a booming voice; '_Alice Evedawn, you have been granted to enter Fairy Tail by the high order of..'_.

But it didn't happened. Nothing did actually. Alice, for that was the name she was given at birth, crumpled against the door in defeat. She was too weak to open them! And there was no password! How was she ever to get in?

A low sob made it's way out of her mouth, it was all over! The whole trip, a waste! She couldn't even go inside. Realization dawned on her face, maybe, just maybe, _they were rejecting her?_

It never came as a surprise, seeing how she was _cute_ but not beautiful, and _graceful_ but not elegant. Fairy Tail must have only let them higher level human beings inside. Those with genteel manners or the strength of Zeus; and Alice was none of those. She was an office lady in the capital. She was of marriageable age yet no one had come knocking on her door yet. She wasn't even in her early marriageable age, she was in her your-time-is-almost-up period. A few more years... and then her chance of being married with a family would slowly go down drain.

She wanted to curl up and cry.

There was a loud burst of wood and suddenly the doors opened! Alice jumped back surprised, opening the doors was a tall woman with long white hair. She looked around cautiously. Her blue eyes landing on the slightly-trembiling form of Alice.

"Oh my! Were you the one who shouted?" Her tone seemed kind enough, Alice determined, so she should use her manners. First impressions always stick the longest her father always said.

"Yes ma'am." She bowed low to the ground. "My name is Alice Evedawn and I would like to come inside your guild." The women giggled and touched the small of Alice's back. Such contact didn't surprise her, as it would most people, hands running over her body was a common thing for a city girl now a days.

"You can raise your head up, dear, and yes, we would love for you to come inside." Alice stood up with a small smile and picked up her bag,

"Thank you." She gave the woman another glance over. Yes, this woman seemed to fit her opinion of Fairy Tail members. "May I ponder your name?" The woman smiled once again and gave the girl her hand to be led inside. Alice took it gingerly.

"Mirajane, Mirajane Justine. You can call me Mira though, everyone does. Say, you look very young Mrs. Evedawn-" Alice flushed and shook her head.

"Oh no! Mrs. Justine, I am not married yet." Mira cocked her head to the side in contemplation. Alice paled, there it was, the judgment. She had said the wrong thing, she should be married by now. She had failed standards once again.

"Shame Alice, but I'm sure Mr. Right is out there." Mira said with a warm smile and led Alice inside the wooden and cozy guild. Alice blinked once, twice, had the judgment been not mentioned? Mira seemed perfectly happy with her status, maybe she had said the right thing? Ugh, this hurt Alice's head.

The inside of the guild was as marvelous as the outside. There were two stories, Alice noted, but both must be very large. Alice looked around in wonder at the large groups of men and women. She blushed as saw that many of them hardly wore clothes. Her green eyes dragged down to her own clothing, her style must be last week, for these women hardly wear clothing, and yet here she was! All covered.

Mira noticed Alice's sudden submission.

"Is everything alright, Ms. Evedawn?" Mira asked leading her to a bar stool and slipping behind the counter. Mira must be the bairmaid Alice concluded.

"Yes, everything is fine Mrs. Justine, I was just speculating the guild; you may call me Alice if you'd like." Alice said softly. Mira flushed and grinned.

"Alright, only if you call me Mira, Alice."

"Okay, Mira." Alice took another look around. All of the members were drinking, should she drink too? Is that what they did around here? Alice looked back at the menu pasted above the bar and the cabinets behind it, yes, they did serve alcohol. She should drink then.

"Mira, can I have a margarita please?" Alice asked meekly, she was hardly used to ordering. Usually men chatted her up with a drink in hand, she would then take it and that would be that. Mira smiled and nodded, turning around and grabbing un-labeled bottles. Alice swallowed nervously. Another look told her that the women were indeed beautiful and the men were hardy, with the occasional pretty boy.

"Liking what you see?" Mira asked her sliding the drink over. Alice grasped it and placed to her lips before setting it back down without taking a sip. The latter was unnoticed however.

"It's very interesting. Can you tell me about Fairy Tail?" Mira's eyes shined with a gleam of mischief and glee. She smacked her hands together and puffed up her cheeks.

"You bet I can! So, hhhhhhmmm? What would you like to know? History? Arts? Management? Quests? _Relationships?_" Mira gushed out, wiggling her eyebrows at the last one. Alice fumbled with the sudden decision. Which one did Mira want her to say the most? Alice couldn't figure it out. Mira seemed like the kind of genteel person who liked History, with her frilly dressed and ribbons, but maybe her soft blue eyes liked the Arts better? It was as if Mira was holding a gun to Alice's head.

She closed her eyes and began to hum; feigning deep thinking. Well, she was thinking deeply, but not in the way Mira thought she was.

Humming, she thought, her older sister used to hum. She watched her brush her hair in front of her mirror every night humming the same song. Only the first two verses. Whenever her sister saw her she would usher her inside then brush her hair singing the song softly for Alice. Alice had never heard it before, she it became known as 'Jez's Song'. Jez was her sister's name. Jez was a seven years older than Alice, and she was the ideal woman to Alice. Jez was curvier than her and funnier, her teeth were white and her skin lacking any sort of blemish. Jez, ironically, listened to Techno. She would often go over to other people's houses then come back in the wee hours of the morning.

One time Alice followed Jez, Jez said that she saw no reason for the fifteen-year old Alice couldn't go to one of Jez's parties. Jez was told to leave her keys in a bowl when they got there, Jez laughed but dropped them in all the same.

_Clink._

Alice was brought out of her memories of her sister when she noticed that she accidentally knocked over the glass. It didn't shatter, which Alice was thankful for; it was empty.

She didn't even know she was drinking it.

Her eyes darted up to Mira to see how she would react. Mira laughed and picked the glass up.

"Another one then?" She asked already turning around to make it. Alice nodded, although she doubted the white haired woman could see her. Alice made circles into the wood with finger; thinking back that party, back to that 'clink'.

Back to the _clink_ of Jez getting her a can of something that smelled funny, then laughing when Alice spat it back out.

Back to the _clink_ of the door shutting; with Jez, herself, and five other people inside.

Back to the _clink_ of the lighter as they lit up something that smoked a lot and was tucked inside newspaper.

Back to the _clink_ of a belt coming off and sliding onto the carpeted floor.

Back to the _clink_ of Jez and some guy locking the closet door.

Back... back...

"So," Mira said after a period of silence. "I guess none of those subjects interest you?" Mira wiped a glass clean, it was much larger than her own glass. She wondered who could drink from such a large glass.

"No, not entirely, say, tell me Mira, who's teamed up in this guild?" Alice asked turning around on the stool to look at everyone. Mira giggled and her slender arm went between Alice's head and shoulder to point at who she was talking about. Her breath warming up Alice's suddenly cold ear.

"Well, what sort of teamed up do you mean exactly? Everyone knows that Elfman and Evergreen have something going on," She pointed at quite an odd looking pair at a table, one yelling and the other waving a fan. "but nothing has happened yet. Then there's Levy and Gajeel; who have a baby on the way." The pointed at a small girl reading a book and a very intimidating man sitting close to her, his gruff hand resting on a large bump on the girl's body. She flushed, they both looked so young! Was that how it was here? "Gray and Juvia who are licensed as ' friends with benefits ', almost everyone has walked in on them more than once." They were a couple pushed up in a dark corner of the room, one shirt-less, and the other standing with a puddle of water around her feet? "Then," she giggled. "we have Happy and Charle who are newly-weds." She sang out.

Alice followed her finger to the cat- was it okay to have cats wear clothes?- couple smiling and blushing around each other.

"Adorable." She breathed out looking at all the couples around Fairy Tail; it seemed so full of love! So romantic~!

The large doors opened again, Alice turned her head to see who it was, then she heard Mira giggle.

"Of course if we are talking about "teaming up" then there is no one else more perfect then Natsu and Lucy!" She said with a grin. Alice smiled.

"Oh, have they been married long?" Alice asked thinking of how gorgeous Lucy might be. Might? No, she was in Fairy Tail, she _had_ to be stunning! And Natsu? Maybe he was some charming gentleman with glasses and a large sum of money. He must be so nice and sweet! Surely, they were the perfect couple.

"M-Married?" Mira coughed out. Alice stood up alarmed. Had she said the wrong thing? Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"Are you okay?" She asked concerned. Mira coughed some more then straightened up.

"I'm fine. Just.. well, no, they aren't married. They are partners."

"...Then they are married?"

"No, no, no, I mean like, team partners?" Mira said gesturing to the large board full of papers tacked on to it. "They go on requests as a team."

"Oh! That kind of partners..." Alice pondered this. Lucy must be very beautiful still, but a enchantress! Maybe she carried around a staff and used spells; then Natsu would be the brave and strong knight who would protect her as she was chanting her magic. Yes! That must be it. Alice hummed with satisfaction.

"Talking about us again Mira?" A voice like church bells said. "That's getting old. We are partners, _partners_. Got it- oh! Who's this?" Someone sat next to her. Alice turned to see who it was; she gasped at the girl's beauty.

This girl- no woman- had sparkling blonde hair; the kind of hair she always wanted to have. Her brown eyes were so full of life! It made Alice want to go out and run a meadow, her skin was tan and shimmered in the light. Her chest, oh god her chest! Did she have surgery? It didn't look fake, and guessing the amount of stares she was getting from the male members it wasn't.

"Hello Lucy, how was your mission?" Mira paused for a moment to ignore a loud shot coming from far behind Alice that sounded like '_We totally kicked it's ass!'. _Alice decided to dismiss it as well. Her slim hand gestured to Alice, who blushed when addressed. "This is Alice, Lucy, she came to check out Fairy Tail." Lucy smiled and turned in her seat to fully look at Alice. Out of nervousness Alice hid her face in her glass, easily swallowing down the bitter liquid. Gah! She never quite got how Jez could do this so easily, how she could look as if it didn't taste like rotten bananas.

Lucy looked Alice up and down, then smiled with a playful grin.

"How old are you Alice?" Lucy asked leaning on the one arm Alice could see.

"Nineteen." Alice replied fearfully. Did she look too young? Maybe Lucy only talked to _pretty_ twenty-year-olds who had neon hair and liked going clubbing. People like Jez, Alice took another gulp of the drink.

She needed to stop thinking about Jez so much.

"You look so," Alice winced. She could already hear Lucy saying the words she heard a thousand times. '-cute! Oh my! Boys must be lining up to dance with you! Are you still in school? You must be so popular with looks like that!'.

"No, I graduated a few months ago." Alice replied taking another swig. Hmm, she pondered, the more you drank it, the more the taste didn't have time to touch your tongue. Lucy flipped her hair.

"I remember high school, such a fun place, isn't it?" Lucy asked her eyes getting dusty.

"Yes, it was very fun." Alice stated looking around to see where Mira had gone off to. She needed another drink.

"Are you going to join Fairy Tail?" Lucy asked. Alice looked around, it did look very happy here but.. she had no magic. She wasn't a mage- Jez was- no no no! Alice smiled kindly at Lucy, she didn't want to young woman to know what she was thinking.

"Maybe." She said softly. Lucy patted her on the back.

"Think about it." She said happily. Alice smiled weakly and put her hands under her legs. Lucy, well, Lucy probably thought she was just nervous because of Fairy Tail's reputation. That was fine with her, really it was, Lucy thinking she was scared.

"Every girl in here is so beautiful, I don't think I'd measure up to standards." Alice said with a giggle. She never could, so she never tried. Alice was cute, everyone was beautiful.

"Why would you say that Alice, oh Alice, that is such a pretty name don't you think?"

"Yes it is."

"You are so darn cute Alice! Don't feel like you are out shined or anything here, everyone has their own appeal."

"Yes they do."

"Take Levy for example, darn girl is as cute as a button but her special appeal is when she wears her glasses, she has that bookworm appeal."

"Yes, she does."

"Oh, oh! And Cana, she totally has that party hard chick appeal."

"Yes, she does."

"Erza has that role-play appeal, not really sure how that works but hey. Whatever works for you I guess."

"Yes, she does."

"Uhm... Bisca has that cowgirl appeal, but I think it takes a special kind of man to appreciate that."

"Yes, she does." Was-

"Mirajane has that ideal woman type of thing going on, but she's already taken so, that's that."

"Yes, she does." -Lucy-

"Uh... who else? Who else? Well, there's Juvia. I think she has that whole 'I will die for you' type of thing, but hey. Gray likes it, so it's all good."

"Yes, she does." -listening-

"Huh, I guess Evergreen has the seductress appeal. Got to say, I never thought Elfman would go for that."

"Yes, she does." -to her?

"And Lisanna! She has that- well... she has that..." Lucy stopped and looked down to her lap. Alice looked over in a lazy surprise.

"What's wrong Lucy?" Lucy bit her lip in contemplation, then sighed and leaned her head on to the bar.

"Lisanna... whhhmbffff whhhhhhfffftbbbb mmmmmmfh." She mumbled. Alice leaned closer to her.

"Excuse me?"

"Lisanna... went after mmmmthhppp mmmmmhm." She mumbled again blushing a bit. Alice thought it made her look all the more attractive.

"One more time?" Lucy blushed and covered her head by her arms.

"Lisanna." She said quietly, so quietly that Alice had to lean in close to even hear her. "She was Natsu's childhood friend-"

"Natsu is the guy spewing fire and has pink hair right?" Alice dead-panned. Honestly, she didn't want Lucy to say yes. She wanted Natsu to be the roguishly handsome warrior that he was in her head. She wanted, no, _needed_ him to be like that.

Not some pink-haired dork.

Lucy, however, smiled fondly and got a dazed look in her eyes. "Yes, that's Natsu for you." She said her face relaxing.

To say that Alice was thunderstruck would have been a massive under-statement.

She was appalled. NO NO NO! She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs. No! Natsu wasn't like that! NO! He was a handsome warrior! NO! He was perfect!

But he wasn't.

Amongst her turmoil she hardly heard Lucy speak again.

"Well, yeah, so, they used to have a flame I think. Then Lisanna uh... _went away_ for a bit."

Fairy Tail was perfect, it was where only beautiful women- not cute girls- went and where strong men- not boys- trained at. It was the symbol of beauty and strength combining. It was _perfect_. How could people accept this?

"Then I came into the picture as Natsu's partner, he just chose me out-of-the-blue like that. It was... nice."

This was unnatural! Surely their society didn't like them? They weren't all beautiful or smart or, or, or, or even reading a book! Well, Levy was but from Lucy's description she was born with a book. They were supposed to be genteel! Alice blanched. Did that guy just _eat_ iron? Did that one over there just _strip_? Is that woman wearing armor? Armor goes on boys! Not girls!

"After a long time of working with each other Lisanna just, showed up again. It didn't feel... right. We were.. at odds with each other for about a year."

Oh no, now she was seeing it. It was everywhere! The imperfection! The abnormalities! It's just so wrong! That woman was hardly wearing a _shirt, _and is that one... is that one _stalking_ the shirt-less guy? Oh no! Was the girl who looked like Mira... hanging out with a guy with puppets? NO! She was so pretty! She should be hanging out with.. with...

"They went together for a while, then suddenly, Natsu got news of Igneel. That's his adoptive father so you know."

… then it hit her. With no one here. No one was fit to be with each other. Not even Mira, she was talking to a man with _long_ hair. Men don't have long hair! What is wrong with these people? Didn't they get raised right by their parents on what is proper and what is not? GAH! What was she to do? What would Jez have done? What would-... No. Jez wasn't here.

And Jez won't ever be, because Jez was like this.

"Anyway, he wanted to go after him, but Lisanna.. Lisanna didn't quite agree with that. The funny part is that it wasn't anything dramatic, once she said that he simply turned around, looked at me and said 'Are you coming then?'"

It's _because_ Jez was like them. She made the wrong choices! She drank, she had sex, she did drugs! All of her friends looked like them! They had tattoos, and rode with the top down, they ran down beaches with no shoes on! They hugged each other without being in an relationship! What was wrong with Jez? Alice wouldn't ever know. Jez didn't study much to get into college, and what did she do when she graduated? Got married to her sweetheart. She left Alice all alone.

"I naturally said yes and we've been partners ever since. But.. something changed, for me at least."

It was tense after that, Jez remembered, her parents were furious. They had tried so hard, so hard to keep her and Jez on the straight and narrow, but Jez completely skipped over that line. They gave up, first they stopped caring about Jez. Then they stopped caring about each other. Then Alice. They told her to do whatever she wanted, to get some guys and just do _shit_ because it wasn't like Alice was going to do much anyway. 'Jez ruined you.' They said. Alice stopped trying to believe she didn't.

"It was dark, we had found where they claimed Igneel was, but, but he was dead. Slaughtered. Natsu went into a blind rage, his fire went everywhere! It was going to burn the whole village down, and no one could calm him down. I did what I had to do..."

But there was hope. There was hope so close to her! Lucy! Lucy was hope! Lucy was perfect, sure, she hung out with Natsu, but it wasn't anything romantic! Alice smiled. Lucy was the one perfect thing in this hellhole of impurities. Lucy was something Alice could grab a hold of to strive to be like. It used to be Jez, the girl who played tag at midnight and liked to dance in the mirror, but now.. now it was someone reliable. It was going to be Lucy.

"I reached into his web of fire. Oh! It burned to badly but I kept reaching in to touch him, just to brush him, I hoped that would bring him to his senses. It stuck my whole right arm and shoulder in there, and touched him. It worked immediately. He dropped to the ground and the fire just disappeared as if it never happened but, it did." Only now did Alice notice how she never saw Lucy's _right_ arm, only her left. Her eyes widened in connection, no... no...

"My whole arm was burned, I couldn't talk without screaming for days. Natsu, he was holding my left hand the whole time. He cried for as long as I screamed trying to say how sorry he was. I forgave him the second his eyes first locked with mine." Lucy then lifted up her right arm slowly. Alice gagged. It was an angry red with pink ribbons, the skin has folded and expanded to where it looked like waves in some spots, but near the hand it looked like someone dropped a bomb on Lucy's wrist.

It wasn't perfect. Lucy wasn't perfect.

Alice jumped up and knocked over the stool, no one turned their heads, thinking it was just another brawl. Her hands went to her face to cover her eyes. She didn't want to see. She didn't want to see. Lucy looked up surprised and reached out towards Alice.

"Alice? What's wr-"

"_No!" _She screeched swatting Lucy's arm away, Lucy's eyes widened in shock. "Don't _touch_ me!" Alice yelled like a banshee. She stepped back from Lucy slowly, holding her hand over one of her eyes, and tears pouring out of them rapidly. They dripped down to her other hand, which she placed over her own Right arm.

"Alice-" Lucy said stunned for words. What had she done wrong?

"You-you-you are disgusting! You are perfect at all! You are hideous! A monster!"

"Alice!-"

"Why do you exist? It's not right! Girls are supposed to be beautiful and proper! They don't have-have-_that!"_

"_Alice-!"_

"How can you do that to yourself? Throwing away your beauty for-for-for- friendship?" Alice's voice got more hysterical. Lucy became afraid for the young girl. "Why would you do that! It's stupid! Friendship doesn't equal beauty!"

"Yes it does!" Lucy shouted trying to get Alice to stop, the words she was saying, they were daggers to her heart.

"Friendship can be found anywhere! Yet you choose to throw it away for the first one you find? Stupid! You were lovely! You could have used that to get married, and have a family. All of that for friendship?"

"It wasn't just friendship Alice!" Lucy huffed out, bending over in frustration. Alice stood still.

"What was it then?"

"Love! God damnit _love!_ _I love Natsu!_ If-if you loved someone wouldn't you do anything to make them happy?" Lucy asked beginning to cry herself. Alice paused. Love? What would she do for love?

"_Hey, little sis come over here. Listen, hey I said Listen! Silly goose. One day you are going to find someone you love more than anything, and you want to be with them forever. That's how I feel about Garret okay? So I have to go. We're going to get married and start our lives together. Don't cry- sssh... shhh... I'll be fine, okay? I'll be happy." _ Jez was a liar.

"_Liar_..." Alice whispered to herself. "Love doesn't exist Lucy. Love is the attraction between two people because of appearances. You? You could have had that, but now? You've ruined it. You can never fall in love."

"It's what on the inside-" Lucy began.

"The inside? That is _bullshit _and you know it! No one cares about what is on the inside! Society and the media will only care about how you _look_. You could be Santa for heaven's sake but they wouldn't accept you unless you _looked _like Santa. Open your eyes Lucy." Alice lowered her head. "You know I'm right."

Jez never came back, because she couldn't. Garret and Jez were killed in an car crash. Five days after they were married, they were killed. The police told Alice's family that it was because the other driver was drunk. But no, Jez wouldn't die like that._ Car crash?_ Too unlikely. The other driver was one of Jez's old flames.

He once came to their house saying how much he loved Jez, Jez cried the whole night telling Alice that she loved him too, but wouldn't be with him.

Jez killed herself. If only she had ignored love and went with him- she could still be alive.

But she didn't.

"You need to leave." Lucy said softly standing up. She didn't look at Alice, and Alice didn't look at Lucy.

"In your heart, you can't deny it."

"Leave!" Lucy barked. Alice paused, wiped her hands on her shirt, then smiled.

"If only you didn't believe in love." Alice turned around and walked away from Alice. Lucy stood up and yelled at Alice.

"I don't know what happened to you in the past! But that doesn't matter! One day you will find someone you-you will love more than anything and you will want to be with them forever! It doesn't matter how you look, Alice. Because, if we ignore whatever pain is in your heart, you are beautiful Alice. Inside and out. Beautiful." Lucy said, with a soft smile. "You can come back to Fairy Tail, once you figure that out."

Alice didn't turn around, but she did stop. For just a moment, and kept walking.

The girl with blonde hair and green eyes walked up the booth, bought a ticket, and got on the train. She sat in a window seat and stared down the bustling Main street waiting for the train to take her back to the capital; back to where everything made sense. She caught her reflection as it was pulling away, she was covered in make-up and purple lipstick of all things. The girl though back to what she had just heard, for the first time in her life, "_You are beautiful."_ Hurriedly she dumped out all of the products she had onto the floor and stomped on them. Next she wiped everything off of her face in a mad rush. Carefully and slowly she opened her eyes to look at the girl in the window.

She smiled.

**xXxXx**

**Woot. Another One-shot done, I was thinking about this for awhile and decided to just write it.**

**Symbolism:**

**Alice- usually a name when referring to the 'perfect' girl.**

**Eve- The first woman**

**Dawn- The beginning of a day; new birth.**

**Jez- Short for Jezebell in the bible, where the women in a witch and evil.**

**Woohoo for irony with 'Alice' and 'Jez'. **

**No, none of these things are my own ideals, and yes, in cities it isn't like that but it's fictional people, F-I-C-T-I-O-N-A-L.**

**-Ree**


End file.
